Applications for the 8th annual Mercy Otis Warren Cape Cod Woman of the Year Award are available at all town halls on Cape Cod.

The countywide project seeks to honor a woman who has demonstrated leadership in the Cape Cod community and who has made a significant contribution to any of the following: the arts, education, business, and community involvement embracing the ideals of patriotism.

This award will be presented on July 4 as part of the Independence Day Celebrations in Barnstable Village. The ceremony will be held on the Courthouse lawn at 8:30 a.m. The recipient will receive a maquette of the David Lewis statue of Mercy Otis Warren.

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARDWALK – Darlene Johnson-Morris, manager of the county’s resource development office, beams as she tries out the new marsh boardwalk at Taylor-Bray Farm in Yarmouthport May 15. The AmeriCorps volunteers who built the walk last week to celebrate the program’s 10th anniversary on the Cape cheered as it was named for Johnson-Morris, who’s directed the program for the last decade. Also enjoying the new boardwalk were state Sen. Rob O’Leary, left, who suggested bringing the AmeriCorps program here when he was a county commissioner, and, at rear, Tom Cambareri, water resource program director for the Cape Cod Commission. Johnson-Morris’s grandson Ashton Dolby enjoyed Nana’s big day, too.

ASSEMBLY PASSES TAX CUT – Tom Keyes, left, deputy speaker of the Assembly of Delegates, chats with Henry DiGiacomo, CEO of the Cape Cod & Islands Association of Realtors, during a break between county meetings May 20. Speaking from the floor during a finance committee meeting, Keyes suggested that the Assembly round down a half-cent of the deeds excise tax increase rather than round up to correct a technical error in the budget already approved for the fiscal year beginning July 1. DiGiacomo spoke in favor also, and the fin com voted unanimously to do so. Rounding up would have brought about $19,000 in anticipated revenue into the new budget, but the “loss” of same will be covered by tapping reserve funds.

ANOTHER HAT – Ron Bergstrom is speaker of the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates, chairman of the Chatham Board of Selectmen, and, as of May 18, coordinator of the Regional Network to Address Homelessness on Cape Cod and the Islands. “He came forward with a very good plan that showed that he understood what the regional network hoped to accomplish,” said Estelle Fritzinger, executive director of the Community Action Committee of Cape Cod and Islands. Fritzinger was a member of a hiring committee that included representatives from the Duffy Health Center in Hyannis, a Lower Cape agency for the homeless, the county human services department, and Housing Assistance Corporation. She said Bergstrom “will be bringing together various stakeholders and ensuring the programs outlined in the region’s grant move forward. Ron has a breadth of interaction with the entire Cape assuring that a variety of stakeholders will be at the table, instead of just the service agencies.” Bergstrom, who could not be reached for comment late yesterday, will report to the policy board of the network, co-chaired by County Commissioners Chairman Sheila Lyons and Bob Murray, former director of the Falmouth Housing Authority.